in his saturday weekly address, president obama signaled he is open to making cuts in programs like medicare and medicaid if republicans agree to raise tax rates for the rich. >> i'm willing to make more entitlement spending cuts on top of the $1 trillion in spending cuts i signed into law last year. >> reporter: his remarks came one day after house speaker boehner announced the talks were stalled. >> well, this isn't a progress report, because there's no progress to report. >> reporter: his democratic counterpart nancy pelosi blamed boehner for the stalemate. >> what they offered in return was an empty letter, lacking in specifics. >> reporter: such is the state of negotiations, 23 days before the deadline, when federal income tax will revert to higher levels, and long-term unemployment benefits will dry up for over two million americans who have been out of work for six months or more. on friday, boehner did not rule out a compromise on a tax hike for top earners, somewhere between today's 35% rate and the clinton era's 39.6%. >> there are a lot of things that are possible. to put the reve